Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-10-27
LIfE-sAvIso sERvIcE.
The Good That HAS Been Done By ths
Gnafdians OF Onr Coasts. q

rho Good That mas Been Done By tbs
l. Gnafdians OF Oar Coasts.
The Government at " ashington has
, lust issued the customary volume en-
/ bracing the acts and the progrnss OF
the Life Saving Service for the last Off.
cial year. The report is striking and
valuable. 1t shows, to begin with, that
! at the close of the time covered there
were 211 life-saving stations upon our
sea and lake coasts; that 322 disasters
befell documented vessels during the
year; that on board these vessels were
1926 persons, and that 1853 were
saved of that number and 27 lost
These statistics of the immediate past
are accompanied by vast collection OF
others of a comprehensive and instruct
i've character. A general summary OF
the latter shows that since the intro
duction of the present system. Novem-
Der 1, 1871, to the close of the fiscal
year. June 80, 1886, the total number of
disasters has been 1886; the total value
of vessels wrecked. $39.733. 495; the to-
tai value of cargoes, $18, 643, 754; the
total value, therefore, of property in
volyed, $5S, 377, 249; the total value of
property saved, SAL, 449. 257; the total
value of property lost. SIG. 927 ,992; the
total number of persons involved, 2o,-
O83, and the total number of lives lost
4S6. This exhibit speaks for itself. 1t
offers ratio of salvage of property in
shipwreck in vivid contrast with the
figures of days gone by. But the dis
parity in the saving of life is more re-
markable still, and on this ground
alone, in the absence of any other, the
existence of the Life-Saving Service is
abundantly justified, 1t should be re-
membered that the results we have
broadly presented have been reached in
cumulative manner. At first. in the
season of 1912, the service was
limited to the coasts of Long Island
and New Jersey; in 1884 this was ex-
tended so as to take in Cape Cod; in
1S74-5 the whole coast of New England
was added, and the range between
Cape Henry and Cape Hatteras; in
1856 the coast from Cape Charles to
Cape Henlopen was included, and in
1867 all the foregoing, together with
the east coast of Florida, were en-
braced. with portions of that of the
lakes; while all this during the past six
years has been augmented by the coast
of Texas. Most of us remember the
eagerness which we first read of .'Ship-
wrecks and Disasters at Sea-" The
pages of the present report have the
same attraction and add to it the i'm
contemporaneous element that
goes so far to heighten interest. Here
are tales of courage, of devotion, of
that no romance can
equal. Here are passages of adj.
venture, or perilous 'scapes, of mo-
ments when but thread or plank is
between human life and destruction;
passages that make one hold ones
breath and marvel that such scenes in
scores have been and constantly recur
almost in our sight, but which are only
fully realized when thus described to-
gether in all the eloquence of simple,
narration. The practical
worth no less than the nobleness of the
Life-Saving-Seryice has been made
clear. 1t is hardly needful to
point out the good that is done
by the spectacle of heroic deeds,
but we may usefully invite all Ameri-
cans to acquaint themselves with the
particulars of one of the grandest
branches of their public service, the
increased efficiency of which assuredly
betokens that growth of civilization
which goes hand in hand with the
growth of the spirit of humanity.-M.
!. Herald.